He wears the traditional regalia of a king, a beaded crown and necklaces, and holds in his hands a scepter and a medicine horn, the symbols of his power and authority.

What is the king from Ife holding?

He wears the traditional regalia of a king, a beaded crown and necklaces, and holds in his hands a scepter and a medicine horn, the symbols of his power and authority.

What do Ife sculptures represent?

The human figures portray a wide cross-section of Ife society and include depictions of youth and old age, health and disease, suffering and serenity. According to Yoruba myth, Ife was the center of the creation of the world and all mankind. Ife was home to many sacred groves located in the city’s forests.

What is the purpose of an Ife head?

Its elaborate beaded headdress, possibly representing a crown, suggest that it was associated with an Ooni, a ruler of Ife. According to the oral traditions of the Yoruba people, Ife is the place where life and civilisation began.

How are the Ile-Ife heads represented?

The Yoruba of Ife made fine artworks in stone and ceramics, but above all they are famous for their life-size representations of human heads. The heads were made using the lost-wax method, a seven-step casting process that uses molten metal.

What is the history of Ife art?

Ife is world famous for its art. Between 700 and 900 A.D. the city began to develop as a major artistic center. By the 12th Century Ife artists were creating bronze, stone, and terracotta sculptures, some of which are found today in museums in Nigeria, Europe, and North America.

What is the meaning of Ife art?

In Nigeria, between the 11th and 15th century CE, the ancient African city “Ife” (Ile-Ife) flourished. Ife is located along the Guinea Coast of Southern West Africa and had trade connections with other West African Kingdoms. The people were Yoruba, and Ife art is a celebration of their culture.  

What is the style of Ife art?

The art-historical importance of Ife works lies in their highly developed and distinctive sculptural style, described alternately as naturalistic, portraitlike, and humanistic.

What does the bronze head of Ife represent?

The Bronze Head from Ife, or Ife Head, is one of eighteen copper alloy sculptures that were unearthed in 1938 at Ife in Nigeria, the religious and former royal centre of the Yoruba people. It is believed to represent a king.

Who made the bronze head of Ife?

One of the heads, known as ‘The Ife Head’, is believed to be a portrait of a king or ‘Ooni’. It was made under the rule of King Obalufon II whose famous naturalistic life-sized copper face mask shares stylistic features with this work.

What is the history of Ile-Ife?

Ile Ife is the city where the Yoruba believe their civilization began as well as the location where the gods descended to earth. The name, Ile Ife, literally means place of dispersion. According to Yoruba tradition, Ife was founded by the deities Oduduwa and Obatala when they created the world.

Who excavated Ife artwork?

Leo Frobenius
#4: Discovering Ife art Ife art was brought to international attention in 1910 when Leo Frobenius, a German ethnographer, discovered bronze and terracotta heads at Ife. The discovery changed people’s perception of African Art, but Frobenius had a misconception about its origin.

What is the significance of the bronze head from Ife?

The Bronze Head from Ife, or Ife Head, is one of eighteen copper alloy sculptures that were unearthed in 1938 at Ife in Nigeria, the religious and former royal centre of the Yoruba people. It is believed to represent a king.

Why are the IFE heads in the British Museum?

Today these bronze heads are displayed in the British Museum in London for onlookers to understand how these works of art represented the great Kingdom of Ife in politics, culture, spirituality, and economics. The Ife heads were made from a technique called lost-wax.

When was the Ife Head made?

6 Ife Head (Nigeria 1400-1500 CE). Ooni, the ruler of the west African kingdom of Ife between 1100 to 1500 CE. Bronze with black paint using the lost wax technique with striations around the mouth. From the collection of the British Museum, London (UK). The Ife head probably represents an Ooni which means “king”.

What makes Ife sculpture Unique?

The artists of Ife developed a refined and highly naturalistic sculptural tradition in stone, terracotta, brass and copper and created a style unlike anything in Africa at the time. The technical sophistication of the casting process is matched by the artworks’ enduring beauty.